UNO swimmers have a pool of their own after Lakefront Aquatic Center is reopened

Jennifer Zdon / The Times-PicayuneSean Frazier, the head lifeguard at the Lakefront Aquatic Center, works with 4-year-old twins Mia, left, and Gina Nunez. The facility was officially reopened Monday after being closed for nearly four years following Hurricane Katrina.

After living a nomadic existence the past four years since Hurricane Katrina, the UNO swimming and diving teams can finally call the university's pool home again as the Lakefront Aquatic Center officially reopened its doors Monday morning.

University and Lakefront Arena officials, along with City Council members Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and Arnie Fielkow, were among the numerous supporters in attendance for the facility's second coming.

"It's brand new to us, " UNO swimming coach Randy Horner said. "We've been waiting four long years for this. The last two years our team has been having to travel back and forth to Tulane to use their pool. We haven't been able to have any homes meets. This is definitely a shot in the arm for our program and UNO in general."

VIDEO: New Orleans UNO Lakefront Aquatic Center reopens

Horner admitted he had to be creative when trying to recruit swimmers to join the Privateers program considering there was no pool to swim in since Katrina. The reopening took longer than the coach envisioned.

"We've been recruiting and bringing people in and telling them to have a vision, " Horner said. "We told them we are going to be back in here some day. Last year's recruiting class, we thought we were going to be in here. It's been a constant challenge trying to keep up the morale of the team and focus on the big picture. To have this in place now, the sky is the limit."

The renovated facility won't solely aid UNO.

Some of the area's top high school programs have already slated the Lakefront Aquatic Center as their home pool. Aquatic Center manager Janice Roth said schools such as Jesuit, Brother Martin, Holy Cross, De La Salle and Cabrini will return to the pool once the school year commences.

Roth also said UNO will host the metro high school meet, which is the state meet qualifier, and she hopes the facility will be back in the mix for the state championships.

While the fate of the UNO athletic program had been uncertain in the past few months, Athletic Director Jim Miller said the reopening of the Aquatic Center was never in question.

"This facility was going to come back because we have such a strong community facility, " Miller said. "Before the storm, they had the state high school meet here. So this is widely used. Obviously, we've got it and we're glad to have it.

"This is another little step. We've been taking those little steps all throughout the UNO community and having reopenings. But this is more than a small step. It's a big step."

The indoor 50-meter pool seating area now can hold up to 600. Some of the amenities include a new sound system, automatic chemical treatment system and a video scoreboard.

UNO BASEBALL UPDATE: Meanwhile, the announcement of UNO's next baseball coach remains up in the air.

Miller wouldn't give a specific timetable as to when the school planned to announce its baseball coach. He said it might happen today but didn't want to go into any other details.

Privateers interim coach Bruce Peddie continues to be the leading candidate to replace Tom Walter, who left for Wake Forest. The school also interviewed Jesuit Coach Tim Parenton last week. Southern Coach Roger Cador is out of the running after agreeing to a three-year contract extension Sunday to stay in Baton Rouge.

. . . . . . .

Tammy Nunez can be reached at tnunez@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4861.